Sunday, June 6, 2010

"Why do you home school?"

I'm asked that question almost daily and while my reasons for homeschooling never change, my answer to that question will vary greatly, depending on who I am talking to, what that person and I are talking about, or what happens to be on my mind that day.

If a friend from church calls and asks why I home school because she is debating about whether or not to enroll her child in kindergarten, I usually tell her I home school because it "feels natural." I've never been comfortable with the idea of sending my kid to spend the majority of their day with someone else. It may be "normal" for most kids to end up dreading time with their parents and valuing friends over their siblings (and most people would argue, against evidence, that that has nothing to do with school) but that's when I say that I can do better than "normal" for my family.

If you have found me out of state, at a hotel pool with my kids in the middle of a school week while my husband is visiting another company for the day, I will have said that I home school for "flexibility" because that's what's on my mind at that moment, primarily. We have the ability to "get up and go" when Dwayne's work takes him places. Our kids don't have to "miss school" in order to take vacations.

And, when I am sitting at a park this summer, talking to a mom who is sending her kids to private school in Waterbury, wondering whether or not she should just go ahead and work full time so she and her husband can buy a house in Prospect because "the schools are better," I'll probably say I home school because it's more "affordable."

But, it seems that no matter who asks, or when, or what's on my mind at the time, home school always wins for me. And, I guess that's why it feels like the "natural" choice for my family.

2 comments:

Yes, yes, and YES! Very well said. We hs for a ton of different reasons, all of which you listed, and more. Dh is military and the constant moving can play havoc when it comes to school. Not for us! We took a 2 week vacation last month and didn't have to worry at all about catching up when we got back. We can sleep late! We can take the day off. We can go on field trips any time we want.Popped over from WTM.

We homeschool for lots of different reasons too. Lately, I've been telling people it's because homeschooling is more time effective and we can do lots of things that we wouldn't have time for if the kids were in school.